Food from the Bucks and cash from World Central Kitchen help the Tandem feed the needy

The Tandem, the north side restaurant giving free meals to people in need during the pandemic, is gathering steam: First, the relief organization World Central Kitchen began infusing it with tens of thousands of dollars in April, and now the Milwaukee Bucks are donating truckloads of meat and other ingredients.

The Bucks this week will donate thousands of pounds of food — enough for the Tandem and its partner restaurants to make at least 2,000 meals to give away, and possibly 3,000 or more, the Tandem's chef said.

The food from Fiserv Forum — frozen meats, sacks of flour and more — will be transported by Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin in two semitrailer trucks Thursday and Friday to its warehouse a couple of blocks from the Tandem.

There, chefs from participating restaurants will be able to pick out ingredients for their community meals, said Rayna Andrews, senior director of community impact for Feeding America. There's enough food to distribute more in the coming weeks, she said.

Arvind Gopalratnam, the Bucks' vice president of corporate social responsibility, said the Bucks had been looking for ways to support its employees and the broader community since basketball went on hiatus in March.

With no basketball games in the offing, the Bucks worked with Fiserv Forum's concessions vendor, Levy Premium Foodservice, to be sure the food in the arena's kitchens was safe to donate. Gopalratnam, who sits on Feeding America's board, then contacted the organization to find out how best to distribute it.

When Feeding America suggested it be given to the Tandem and its partner restaurants for community meals, "it seemed like the perfect way for our food to be quickly and safely distributed to the community," Gopalratnam said.

“This is a challenging time for us all, and we are pleased to provide food to help families and to support local restaurants and their employees,” Bucks Senior Vice President Alex Lasry said in a statement. “We appreciate the incredible support of Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin and the Tandem and thank them for their continued commitment to help feed people during this pandemic.”

It soon began receiving donations from residents and businesses and grew to a dozen restaurant partners preparing the food. It was up to 30 restaurant partners in April, and now stands at 45.

The effort was able to grow as it has through funding from World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit started by Washington, D.C., chef José Andrés that has fed millions in disaster zones around the world. An email from Tarik Moody, a DJ at WYMS-FM (88.9), also known as Radio Milwaukee, made the group aware of the Tandem's efforts.

During the pandemic, World Central Kitchen has supplied or funded more than 6.5 million meals in dozens of U.S. cities, at a clip lately of 250,000 a day, according to the group's website.

The Tandem, 1848 W. Fond du Lac Ave., has increased its total meal giveaways fourfold in just a month, to more than 15,000 since mid-March.

The Tandem and its partner restaurants in late April fed about 350 people a day and now provide up to 500 meals a day Monday through Thursday and up to 750 on Fridays, when meals for the weekend are distributed.

The support helps more than the hungry. It's a lifeline to Milwaukee restaurants with shuttered dining rooms.

Cullen said she now is able to reimburse partner restaurants $10 a meal because of World Central Kitchen's funding instead of the $5 she was compensating them before. Some of the participants are declining compensation.

Besides the large donations from the Bucks and World Central Kitchen, donations of cash from individuals and food from other businesses continue to flow in.

One woman bakes 400 cookies to be handed out every Friday; the owner of nearby Superior Food & Liquor at 16th Street and North Avenue donated 20 turkeys that were turned into half-turkey dinners for families of six or more, Cullen said.

"Can you imagine getting a meal from Sanford?" Cullen said in wonder. "I've eaten there twice. Now you can stand in a soup kitchen line and get Sanford's food."

Six to eight restaurants prepare meals on a given day. The total paid by World Central Kitchen varies, depending on the number of meals given away; recently it was $24,000 for the week. No single restaurant gets more than $1,000 a week.

The funding from World Central Kitchen doesn't have an end date, Cullen said, but it could stop at any time.

"I don't know how long the partnership goes; I can't imagine it'll go more than a month or two more, but for now it's working really well," the chef said.

The Tandem is continuing its own fundraising through a "donate" button on its website, tandemmke.com. And people still drop off cash at the locked restaurant; Cullen answered the door one day to find a man who handed her $80 for community meals.

Some of the donated food the Tandem receives — cereal, bagels, cheese curds, canned beans and tortillas, for instance — are being turned into meal kits to help people get through the weekends (when the Tandem is closed). They're also handed out on weekdays after meals run out.

A GoFundMe to boost free meals

The MIRC fundraiser for community meals has a goal of $50,000 with the intent to fund 200 meals a day through June 30. More than $31,000 has been raised so far through gofundme.com.

The restaurant coalition was formed in April by Dan Jacobs, co-owner of Dandan, EsterEv and Fauntleroy, and by John Revord, owner of Boone & Crockett bar and co-owner of Snack Boys restaurant and the upcoming Horned Hare restaurant. Another goal of the coalition is to press lawmakers for more relief for restaurants.

Cullen projected that community meals for people out of work likely will have to continue through August.